Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

AUTHOR: TimT800 - (USA)

I normally don't write on thes websites, due to the fact that you will have disgruntled employees write untrue statements about former employers, but in this case it is the exception.

My experience as a vendor with Philco LLC/Philco Logistics is terrible. They do not pay for products and services on time and late is the rule if they pay at all. I know here in the Bakken, many business have had to threaten leans and file against Philco for Non Payment.

They are not respected at all in the oil fields and were the talk of the Bakken for some time for thier dishones practices and thier driving record.

Be very cautious before doing business with this group. Its not coincedence that so many have posted complaints on the internet regarding this poorley run and dishonest group of people.

AUTHOR: Big Trucker #9 - (USA)

SUBMITTED: Thursday, April 16, 2015

POSTED: Thursday, April 16, 2015

I worked with this company in North Dakota and in Colorado. I have never got paid anything different than what I deserved. If I had a problem with pay then I went to Carson or Josh and they corrected the problem and explained what happen(which was rare). I wish this company the best of luck. This was great company to work I had another oppurtunity doing some else, oilfields wasnt for me.

I think I know this person complaining about Philco. 1st; you talk how great Nordic is but, Nordic Owners is Philco's old management Team (Larry and Brett) that ran up in North Dakota all the drivers you named were when they were running the Company. Wasn't till Carson and Josh took over that we started seeing and knowing what to expect from them and what they expected from us. (Both very honest guys.) These guys would give you the shirts off their backs if you needed it.

So, I don't understand if you hated them so much why you stayed with them for over a year. I understand you are trying to inform people what you think, but your comments are wrong, and trying to hurting a company for no reason

AUTHOR: David - ()

"1st Concern: This Company has been driven out of the Bakken and is heading your way

False statement please Prove: Philco LLC did not get driven out of the Bakken as you stated. We have a better opportunity for the company that we did not have in the Bakken."

The statement made by Philco is indeed an incorrect statement. The reasons, and there are reasons, why Philco was driven out of the Bakken was competition from the company that helped Philco get its start, as well as the killing of Johnothan Hamilton, 22, in Fairview Montana in July 2014. You can find the article here. http://www.willistonherald.com/news/die-in-separate-accidents/article_45ef01c4-fbbf-11e3-a7f9-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=jqm

So I ask Philco, was Rafael Gonzalea-Garcia not one of your drivers that you just hired out of school? Wasnt the 2007 Peterbilt mentioned in the article your red 379 pete, truck 12?

So why one month after this accident did Philco move to Colorado?

The other reason Philco LLC was run out of the Bakken was they were losing work to Summit Investments. Summit Investments can be credited to helping Philco get its start in 2011. Summit employed the Philips sons and trained them how to haul sand, and then when the Philips bought their own trucks, Summit had leased a couple trailers to Philco. When philco was unable to pay their employees and the bank refused to give Philco a loan to cover payrolll, the owners had to barrow money from Summit. This company Summit went dormant for a couple years, but in the Summer of 2014, Summit came out of hibernation and began to haul sand again. Summit was working for the same companies the Philco was working for, but the Summit drivers were more experienced and already had a working relationship with the companies they were working for. Philco began losing drivers to Summit, and Philco was losing work to Summit, which went onto become Nordic Transport and replaced Philco as the go-to-company to haul sand instead of Philco.

Philco has a high turn over rate, and as a result, they were always trying to find drivers to put into their trucks, but the problem was that anyone with experience in the Bakken or had previuous sand hauling experience would NEVER work for philco because Philco already had a bad reputation in the Bakken, so the only solution Philco had was to hire new drivers straight out of school or drivers that had some experience driving a semi but no sand hauling experience. So what was happening was Philco was having issues on Liberty Sites, CalFrac, Hess, Oasis, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Sanjel, Kean Frac, Nabors. The companies that were dispatching sand trucks to these sites couldnt risk calling Philco to haul sand for them because seemed like every other day Philco was either backing their trucks into movers, hitting objects on site, blowing sand into the wrong bins and contaminating expensive product, clogging their lines, putting trucks in the ditch, taking too long to complete orders, breaking down, or just getting stuck in the mud. Philco was embarassing themselves and were becoming a joke in the Bakken and the powers that be at Philco knew this, and it didnt take long before they just completely vanished to Colorado.

Philco claims that they had a "better opportunity" and did not get run out of the Bakken, but isnt it true that Philco ONLY works for Halliburton? Philco may have a direct MSA, but having an MSA limits your work potential. When Halliburton is in beween fracs, Philco drivers are sitting idle, not making any money for themselves, nor making money for Philco. So, Philco gave up work with Oasis, CalFrac, Hess, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Nabors, Kean, Liberty, Sanjel just to go work for Halliburton? This doesnt seem like a better opportunity to me at all, because when Halliburton is not doing anything, Philco is not making any money, but when Philco was in the Bakken and Halliburton was not doing anything, well Philco could work for someone else and continue to make money for the drivers and Philcos trucks. Colorado is much slower than the Bakken and opportunities are limited there. In fact, I know a dozen of Philco drivers that quit after Philco left to Colorado and came back to the Bakken because the situation in Colorado and Philco was terrible.

Philcos Response:

2nd Concern: The problem I have with them is paying drivers on time and illegal deductions made from paychecks.

Correction: In the year that I have been with Philco, we have only not paid our drivers on time once. That was due to the drivers not turning in and filling out the proper paperwork. Since that incident we have hired some to specifically go through every invoice from every driver daily to ensure that it should never happen again.

Illegal Deductions? Please Prove.: Per the payroll policy that every driver signs it states "All load amounts are subject to change. PhilCo reserves the right to adjust payment based on payment we receive." Rates change, some people are dishonest and that really effects this industry. that is the Reason wh we also left the Bakken to make sure we pay our drivers what they deserve.

The statement by the original author of this post is telling the truth. Philco was holding back 5% of all the driver's payroll without even telling the drivers what they were doing. It was only until about October 2013 when a dozen drivers quit suddenly to go work for Rocky Mountain because their checks were not adding up at all after taxes, even at the highest tax rate possible. No one knew why their checks werent adding up, and when drivers confronted Philco about this the only explanation Philco would give was that it was taxes. So, in Spring of 2014, the daughter that was handling payroll was put on the spot by a very upset driver who knew very well that Philco was stealing his money. When Leslie was put on the spot and put under pressure by the driver, she collapsed and finally admitted that this withholding was their 5% withholding. Even if the drivers were spot on with paperwork, rates, and completely honest, their checks were being withheld from, basically Philco was stealing their money and not telling them. So when drivers would gross $20,000 to the truck, and Philco said "we will pay you 23% of that truck gross" and the drivers added up their invoices and turned it into payroll, the driver should have had a check of $4,600 gross pay, but instead the driver was getting a $3,600 check of gross pay. Multiply that by 2 and you're looking at a a company that is stealing $2,000 a month and claiming it to be taxes. That is a HUGE marginal error!

Can I prove this? Yes, I can prove this with written statements from Kaye, Jose, Blake, David, Dave, Chris, Tim, Nick, Wess, Daniel, A.J, Lynn, Jake, Garth, Aramus, Collin, Drew, Thomas, Darren, Craig, Mike, Mitch, Dennis. That's a LOT of drivers for as few of trucks as Philco has and had. Why is it that so many drivers quit your company? because they were stealing their money. Why were they stealing their money? probably to be able to make their truck and trailer payments but that statement is theory based on analysis of their business venture and current financial positions.

It had nothing to do with drivers turning in invoices "incorrectly" because the invoices were very simple and the rates the companies gave the drivers were the rates to the trucks. Rates are NOT "subject to change". Some companies paid that rate 100% to the truck, some paid 85% of that rate to the truck, but the majority paid 100% to the truck. When it came to standby time their isn't any discrepencies because if a company says we are paying $65/hr after the first 2 hours and the driver puts his "on-location time" of 2.5hours and the engineer or pusher signs that paperwork, you better believe the truck will get an extra $32.5 for that half hour of wait time. It wasn't rocket science and if Philco wasnt getting paid by the companies they were hauling sand for than Philco had every right to fight for that money or else that company Philco was working for could lose their MSA for not paying their owner operators.

It wasnt the drivers fault, it was Philcos fault for not checking invoices completely for signatures, BOLs for "in" and "out" times and verifying the rates the companies were paying. How hard was that to do every 2 weeks? Philco usually had only 8 drivers to verify work with and it wasnt like management was really doing anything. Most of the time, management was back home, and hardly ever answering text messages or phone calls from drivers, and I'm talking about the NEW management led by Joshua Buffington and his brother-in-law Carson Philips. So when looking at the work load that management was taking on in conjunction with the companies growth, it seemed like taking half a day to verify their drivers invoices wouldnt have been too much out of managements schedule, especially when its as important as money....

Philco's Response

3rd Concern: Good drivers leave immediately when they have not been paid and late payments.

Thank you, for your comment I will take it to our Management team.

This is also true and the management team knows this. This is why the company liked to hire fresh drivers out of school because these new drivers had no idea what to expect from an oilfield job and were much easier to manipulate. Its usually not until that driver works for the company for about 2-3 months before these drivers start learning from other drivers at other companies what its like working for more reputable companies and how theyre being paid. Philco's "Management team" is Joshua Buffington (son in law to Matt Philips and Husband to one of the daughers handling payroll Andrea, daughter of Matt), Carson Philips (son of Matt Philips), Leslie (daughter of Matt philips and director of payroll). The trend here is that this company is solely based on family. Philcos management team pretends to be something they are not and what they are not is an experienced management team in handling an oilfield trucking outfit. Joshua Buffington, "CEO", according to their website, went from working in a telephone telemarketing company to suddenly a CEO of a trucking company? Carson Philips, no real world experience other than driving trucks on his dads farm in Idaho. That goes for all of Philco's "Management team". None of them have any actual experience running a business, nor do they understand tax law, business law, human resources, liabilities, payroll deductions, human relations, diesal mechanics, budgets. This is why the company is VERY dangerous is because the company is being led by the blind. It is a perfect example of the blind leading the blind.

Philcos Response:

4th Concern: They do not pay for any standby pay sometimes 90 days late or not at all.

False Statement: We hold our drivers and management team to a high standards. Before working for our company we encourage our driver to give their employer a 2 weeks’ notice. And working for our company we do the same thing. Per the payroll policy it states: "Driver will be paid on the amount of the load and will receive a check for wait time after the load is paid if driver is still employed with Philco or has given proper notification of resignation (2 week notice and has been employed for 4 months). "

With our current situation like I have mention before “better opportunity for the company" we actually can pay our drivers on the loads and standby time every pay period.

Thank you for your concern,

Id certainly like to see this signed by drivers, because just because Philco has this in their disclosure, doesnt make it legal and it also doesnt mean drivers signed it. Just because Philco claims they have a payroll policy doesnt mean its legal. Philco has to understand that what makes the U.S government, and State government what it is, is that there are laws in place specifically designed to protect workers rights from companies like Philco. I can say this from experience with this comapny because I never signed this and my wages were being withheld. I know many drivers that said they never signed anything like this and their wages were being withheld. I know this is illegal.

N.D.C.C Chapter 34-14 Wage Collection

34-14-03. Employees who are separated from payroll before paydays. Whenever an employee is discharged or terminated from employment by an employer, separates from employment voluntarily, or is suspended from work as the result of an industrial dispute, the employee's unpaid wages or compensation becomes due and payable at the regular paydays established in advance by the employer for the periods worked by the employee. When an employer discharges or terminates an employee, the employer shall pay those wages to the employee by certified mail at an address designated by the employee or as otherwise agreed upon by both parties. If the employer fails to pay the wages within the stated time, the employee may charge and collect wages in the sum agreed upon in the contract of employment for each day the employer is in default until the employer has paid in full, without rendering any service therefor, except the employee shall cease to draw wages or salary thirty days after such default.

http://www.nd.gov/labor/laws/34-14.html

This means they have to pay the driver what you owe the driver regardless what you THINK Philco thinks they owe the driver. That is one of the risks of running and owning a business and experienced business operators are more skilled at handling these types of instances so that they absorb less costs. This also means that if the invoices add up to being $20,000 and in the contract of employment Philco agress to pay 23% of that, then for every day that this amount of $4,600 is not paid then that employee has every right to charge interest on that amount.

Termination of Employment by the Employee

When an employee voluntarily quits or resigns, they are to receive their wages and compensation, due and payable, upon the next regular payday. They may be paid by check, cash, or by direct deposit as on any other payday.

For the purpose of timely payment of wages, it is the policy of the Division of Labor that an employee has quit or resigned in the instance where he or she has not shown up for work as scheduled. Note: this policy solely applies to the Division of Labor and this section of the law; other agencies may differ in their assessment of employment separation.

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdle/final-pay

This also means that Philco has to pay the driver what they owe the driver regardless of what Philco thinks they owe the driver according to Colorado law as oppossed to North Dakota law. So that means Philco needs to go through all the invoices, check invoices for accuracy according to rates, wait-time, and then cut a check to the employee. Just because a driver doesnt give you 2 weeks notice doesnt give Philco any right to withhold their check.

In conclusion, I would caution any new driver thinking about driving for Philco, or any business looking to give work to Philco, as long as the management team led by Joshua Buffington is in place. Not until the owners Matt and Joe Philips realize that whats best for their company is not to keep their kids in charge but to replace their children with an experienced management team that is specialized to handle an oilfield trucking company.

I had a lot of experience working and dealing with Philco which has given me a tremendous amount of insight into their operation, history, and networks. I am writing from professional experience.

AUTHOR: PhilCo: HR Department - ()

1st Concern: This Company has been driven out of the Bakken and is heading your way

False statement please Prove: Philco LLC did not get driven out of the Bakken as you stated. We have a better opportunity for the company that we did not have in the Bakken.

2nd Concern: The problem I have with them is paying drivers on time and illegal deductions made from paychecks.

Correction: In the year that I have been with Philco, we have only not paid our drivers on time once. That was due to the drivers not turning in and filling out the proper paperwork. Since that incident we have hired some to specifically go through every invoice from every driver daily to ensure that it should never happen again.

Illegal Deductions? Please Prove.: Per the payroll policy that every driver signs it states "All load amounts are subject to change. PhilCo reserves the right to adjust payment based on payment we receive."Rates change, some people are dishonest and that really effects this industry. that is the Reason wh we also left the Bakken to make sure we pay our drivers what they deserve.

3rd Concern: Good drivers leave immediately when they have not been paid and late payments.

Thank you, for your comment I will take it to our Management team.

4th Concern: They do not pay for any standby pay sometimes 90 days late or not at all.

False Statement: We hold our drivers and management team to a high standards. Before working for our company we encourage our driver to give their employer a 2 weeks’ notice. And working for our company we do the same thing. Per the payroll policy it states:"Driver will be paid on the amount of the load and will receive a check for wait time after the load is paid if driver is still employed with Philco or has given proper notification of resignation (2 week notice and has been employed for 4 months). "

With our current situation like I have mention before “better opportunity for the company" we actually can pay our drivers on the loads and standby time every pay period.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.